Titans Fall to Stingrays

For the second night in a row the South Carolina Stingrays dropped the Trenton Titans 3-1.

For former Titan and current Stingray, Ryan Hayes, this meant playing against his old teammates for the first time.

“It was nice to get the 2 wins definitely; it was also good to see my old friends and stuff. I’m friends with everyone on the [Titans] still.” Hayes said.

The Titans and Stingrays skated a scoreless first period once again.

Early in the second, Phil Mangan tapped home a rebound to put the Stingrays on the board.

Five minutes later, Tyler Johnson made it 2-0 on a solo effort.

Goaltender Jeff Jakaitis was the story for the Stingrays, stopping 32 of 33 shots in the win.

“Felt pretty good, felt like I was seeing the puck well,” Jakaitis said.

On the Titans side, things were a little more chaotic as the Titans announced that Defenseman Marcel Alvarez would be leaving the Titans to fulfill his military commitment.

This leaves the Titans with a very thin defense as all six opening night defenseman have left the team either due to trade, injury or call-up to the American Hockey League.

Coach Vince Williams summed it up quickly.

“Guys are working hard, working smart is a different story.” He said.

When it came to the roster chaos, he was equally blunt.

“We’re getting plucked pretty good,” he said.

On a more positive note, this weekend marked Bryan Haczyk’s return from injured reserve and he scored his first goal since his return late in the third period to break the shutout.

“To be honest with you, I feel pretty tired, I worked back in shape in practices and stuff, but being in game shape is totally different” he said, and later on he added “it felt good to bury that goal.”